Chapter 53: Chapter 53: The Goblin Chief

My first sight of Goblin Chief Kasz is of him lounging on a throne smacking his lips while he gnaws the last scrap of meat off a bone. Slime green like my goblin minder Bykt, Kasz wears stiff-looking leather boots and not much else, save for what passes for leather armor. These goblins apparently look at clothes and armor and figure, “Naaah.”

When we approach, Kasz flings aside the bone, which lands somewhere in the circular cavern throne room with a THUNK, and hops off the twisted metal sculpture of a throne. Kasz stands for a moment, brandishing a wicked scimitar, staring down Bykt, me, and Dag, who has chosen to accompany us.

With laser focus, Kasz stalks towards us and comes to a stop in front of me. AFTER Sheathing his scimitar, he reaches out a hand and, without a “may I,” takes hold of my chain and pulls me into the bad breath zone. And i do mean bad. Has this chief ever heard of brushing your teeth?

Kasz’s eyes are big yellow floodlights, making me feel like I’m under interrogation. And he hasn’t said a single word!

He jabs a finger at me with his free hand and utters a word. “Raar.”

Raar? Is he imitating me?

I bare my teeth and roar, “Raar!”

Stepping back, dumbstruck, Kasz stares at me, agape, sharp teeth glistening. Maybe the bone acts as a toothbrush, because his teeth are in decent shape, and clean.

“RAAR!” He bellows the word as if it’s the best in the goblin language.

The other goblins take up the cry. “RAAR! RAAR!” It’s like a sports cheer or a mantra.

Kasz jabs a finger into my chest and says, “Raar.”

Oh. “Raar” means me. Maybe “raar” is Goblinese for “tiger”. System?

[“Raar” is Goblinese for tiger. Goblinese can be a very onomatopoeic language. Meaning that the word sounds the way it is spelled. Goblins have an advanced language structure, but in many respects, a simple one in terms of sounds. It is very different from, say, Common in Tanglewood, where words are not often spelled the way they sound. The same thing for Elvish.]

Ahhhh. That makes sense. Common is similar to English in the human world. Take “gnome”. The “g” used to be pronounced. Same for “knight”, The “k” wasn’t silent in ancient times. But enough of the linguistics lesson.

“RAAR,” I roar, thumping my chest with my paw.

Bykt whoops, excited. The way he puffs up, you’d think he personally taught me what to say.

Wait. Maybe he did.

When we were walking here, through dirty, dank caves, and walking in substances I didn’t even want to think about, Bykt kept repeating the word “raar” over and over. At times, he’d yank the chain around my collar for emphasis. Maybe to see if I was paying attention and understood him? Come to think of it, he yanked harder and more frequently as he repeated, “Raar.” Maybe he was trying to teach me the word? Which would make him a tamer, at least in the goblin view.

I’m just making assumptions here. After all, I can’t really ask Bykt, can I?

I don’t seem to be able to communicate telepathically with the goblins, but then, they’re not Kaline, or my beast friends, or Dag. Beast telepathy seems limited to my tamer and also to other beasts and birds. Maybe it’s a function of having language skills. The more spoken and written language a species has, the harder it is to use Telepathy, unless I am bonded to someone.

But I can talk to Dag, and he still wants exotic crunchy fruits in the future.

[Dag?]

[Esss?]

Dag is not the most articulate bird I ever encountered. Oh, how I long for Gussie. I don’t know if all of Dag’s species are like him, or if he is that way from hanging around goblins. Gussie clearly absorbed human language, being a parrot. But what would happen if she didn’t have anyone to talk to that she understood?

[Dag, is the goblin who led us here a beast tamer?]

Another long pause. Dag preens his feathers. Maybe it’s his way of thinking about something.

[Esss. Tame Raar. Tame me.]

Oh. Goblins truly must not know anything about how beast taming works. A beast tamer can only bond one beast at a time. But goblins must think of beast taming the way ranchers do horses and cattle, or shepherds do sheep, or the way lion tamers view lions. A lion tamer in a circus doesn’t just tame one lion. That wouldn’t make any sense.

I can use that to my advantage somehow.

[I see. So Bykt is our tamer.]

[No.]

Now I’m confused. [You just said Bykt has tamed you and me.]

[Esss. Bykt tame Raar. Next, Kasz tamę Raar.]

Kasz grips my chain, pulling me toward the throne.

Bykt bows so low that his green forehead scrapes the stone floor. Kasz waves a hand dismissively and says, “Ya go.” In Common. He really is the sharpest tool in the shed. That’s why he is the Goblin Chief.

Turning on the heel of his patched and worn leather boots, Bykt leaves with Dag flying behind him. [I lift my head, straining at my bonds. [Dag! Don’t leave!]

[Come bak. Fruit. Remember.]

And with that, Dag is gone. The only being I can communicate with has left the cave.

[DAG! Don’t leave me here! Remember? Fruits?]

I sound so desperate. How pathetic. I’m bribing a strange bird not to leave me. Even more pitiful, he doesn’t even respond.

Another tug on my chain snaps me back to the present. Kasz has climbed back on his throne and reclines once again. He looks like he has everything he could ever want. No surprise there. He’s the boss. He’s at the top of the goblin food chain.

I stand beside the throne, uncertain about what I’m supposed to do here. Do I guard the throne and make more Shooting Stars? Or do I just sit and look pretty like a trained poodle?

I soon discover that it’s the latter.

Unendingly, goblins traipse into the throne room to bow before Kasz and me, and shout, “Raar,” and have me echo it back to them. It’s a bizarre display of paying their respects to their chief and his new prize. I’ve never felt more like a toy or a possession. When Kaline bonded me, I immediately felt as if she respected me. Ex-Lady Lammermoor and her no-good husband Viscount Rossa aside, most people in beast taming circles respect beasts as intelligent creatures. Lamant, Minette, and their daughters don’t just chain beasts and display them as ornaments.

I have to escape.

[Quest: Escape the goblins, free Dag, and reunite with Kaline and family.]

Great, another ambiguous friend that I’m supposed to save. I do feel sorry for Dag, because he didn’t ask for this. He’s never known anything except goblins and caves. There’s an old story about caged animals that don’t run when the cage is left open. They get used to captivity, because they don’t know anything else after a while.

I will not be “Raar” for the rest of my life! I will not become like Dag. I still have beast kidnappers to unmask, and a Beast Taming Elimination Tournament

[KALINE! Get me out of here! I’m in goblin caves!]

I wait with bated breath while enduring each goblin touching my head in a cruel parody of Kaline bonding me. Maybe it’s some religious or superstitious thing, like rubbing a Buddha statue’s belly for luck.

Kaline’s sweet voice is manna from Heaven to my starving soul. [BLAZE! We are tracking your scent to the goblin lair. And I am tracking the bond.]

Oh! I didn’t get that far in the game, but you can track the bond. Which begs the question of why Lamant and Minette couldn’t track Judo and Memo. But maybe someone worked some kind of spell so that they couldn’t? Or perhaps the curse played a role?

It doesn’t matter. It’s not that I don’t care about Judo and Memo, but my own well-being and recovery are most on my mind right now.

[Please get me out of here. And there is another beast here we need to save. He’s a friend.]

The love and compassion that flood me through the bond make me weak in the knees, but strong of heart at the same time.

[Blaze, you are the noblest beast I know. Don’t you worry. We’re coming to get you, and any other beasts those mean old goblins stole. Be safe. And Niall says to watch out for goblin wizards. They might know telepathy.]

Goblin wizards? GREAT. I never thought telepathy would be a double-edged sword. But, on the other hand, if Kasz did have a mind-reading goblin wizard, Dag would have a better vocabulary.

All I have to do is wait. I’ll let the goblins pat me and treat me like Buddha’s belly, and I’ll be a throne ornament for Kasz. Kaline and my family and beast friends are coming to save me!

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